


Valentine Plan, The

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Bad Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1998-06-30
Updated: 1998-06-30
Packaged: 2018-11-20 19:31:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11341845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived atThe Basement, which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address onThe Basement's collection profile.





	Valentine Plan, The

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

The Valentine Plan by Halrloprillalar

The Valentine Plan  
by Halrloprillalar 

DISCLAIMER: Not only did I use X-Files characters without the permission of Chris Carter, 1013, or Fox, but I used the term BADFIC without the sanction of the shadowy BADFIC consortium. In both instances, no infringement is intended. Hail Eris!

* * *

It was February 1st. Maggie Scully was standing at her sink washing her dishes with Ivory dish soap. She wasn't thinking about anything much until she looked at the calendar and saw that Valentine's Day was in just two weeks. Then she felt sad because her husband was dead and so she was a widow. A tear rolled down her cheek and dripped into the sink with the dishes. She knew that her time for happiness was over because her husband was dead and she was too old to find more happiness.

She picked a cup out of the water and rubbed it with the dishcloth. It was her dead husband's favourite cup. With a deep sigh she put the cup into the dish rack. Then she picked another cup up. This was Dana's favourite cup that she always drank out of when she came to visit. Maggie realised that although her time for happiness was over, because she was too old, she could help Dana to be happy and that would make her feel better.

I know what would make Dana happy, thought Maggie. If she would marry Fox! I know that secretly they love each other but they just need a little push. How can I do that? So she thought while she washed the rest of the dishes. While she was scrubbing out a pot with oatmeal stuck to the bottom, she had a good idea--she would call Fox's mom. Together they would make a Valentine's Day Plan to get Dana and Fox together!

Before the phone rang, Teena Mulder was sitting at her kitchen table drinking coffee. It was in a mug but it wasn't a special mug, just one from a set of six she got at Wal-Mart. She was sad too, partly because of Valentine's Day coming up and her being a widow and old, just like Maggie, but partly because her whole life had been really screwed up, and anyway can you be a widow if you're divorced from your husband when he dies?

"Hello?" Teena answered the phone.

"Hello. This is Maggie Scully, Dana's mom."

"Oh, I remember you. You called me up the last time they thought Fox was dead. Is he dead again?"

"No." Maggie was quick to reassure Teena that Fox was not dead, at least not that she knew. "But I wanted to talk to you about him and about Dana too. Do you want to come over this afternoon for tea?"

"That would be very nice." And so they decided to have tea at 2:30.

At 2:30, Maggie's doorbell rang and when she answered the door, there was Teena.

"Thank you for coming," Maggie said in a friendly fashion, taking Teena's coat.

"Thank you for inviting me." Teena was glad to be invited out. She felt less sad.

The two ladies sat down and drank Orange Pekoe tea with milk but no sugar out of teacups from Maggie's wedding china and ate cucumber sandwiches and shortbread that Maggie had made from an old recipe that her mother had.

"The shortbread is delicious!" said Teena. "Can you give me the recipe?"

"Sure," said Maggie and wrote down the instructions on a 3x5 card. "I'm so glad you can come over to drink tea with me. I almost forgot what I wanted to talk to you about, I was so glad to have some company."

"I know just what you mean," said Teena and smiled sadly and bravely.

"It's about Fox and Dana," Maggie said. "I think they should get married since they secretly love each other. But I think they need some help getting started. What do you think?"

Teena actually didn't see Fox too much since they got on each other's nerves a lot, but she still loved him because he was her son and so she wanted him to be happy, even if her time for happiness was over.

"I think it would be really nice. But how can we help?" Teena asked with a quizzical look.

"Well, I think that if they just had a romantic dinner with candles and wine and music and Dana could wear her prom dress, then they would fall in love and get engaged. But they won't do that unless we trick them."

"I get it!" Teena understood right away because she was really smart and it was from her side of the family that Fox got his brains. "We'll make the dinner and get them to come." So first Maggie called up Dana to invite her.

"Hello?" Dana answered the phone. "Dana, it's Mom," said Maggie. "I wondered if you and Fox could come to dinner in a couple weeks. How about next Saturday night?" She pretended not to realise that it was Valentine's Day.

"Mom, that's Valentine's Day," said Dana. "Are you trying to set us up?"

"Ha ha! I didn't even realise that it was Valentine's Day. Of course I'm not trying to set you up. Come at 7:30 and wear your prom dress."

"OK Mom, we'll be there."

After Maggie hung up the phone, she told Teena that the plan had worked. So they started to make a list of things to do. It would be a busy two weeks!

On Valentine's Day, Teena and Maggie started working in the afternoon to set up the fancy dinner. They had flowers and candles and Frank Sinatra and the best tablecloth and wine and they were making a romantic pasta dish with beet flavoured noodles so they'd be pink and artichoke hearts cut in little heart shapes. It would be the most romantic dinner ever. The plan was to get everything ready and then after Dana and Fox arrived they would go down to the rec room and play Scrabble. That way they would be out of the way but close so they could be the first to hear the engagement announcement.

At last, everything was done except that Teena kept rearranging the flowers because she was a perfectionist. Maggie was just about to fix the sandwiches and tea to take down to the rec room when the phone rang.

"Hello?" Maggie answered the phone.

"Hello Mom, it's Dana."

"Hi, Dana. Are you almost ready to come over?"

"No, Mom, we can't come! A case came up. We have to go to Las Vegas to investigate the grisly murders of 13 Elvis impersonators."

"Oh, no!" Maggie was crushed. But she tried to sound cheery. "Well, I hear that there are a lot of Elvis impersonators in the wedding chapels there. Maybe you should have a look around some of them."

"I'll call you when we get back, Mom. Goodbye."

After Maggie hung up the phone, she told Teena that the plan was wrecked! They were both sad, even sadder than they had been on February 1st. But since they had not been brought up to let food go to waste, they decided to eat the dinner themselves. They lit the candles and put on Frank Sinatra and poured the wine and looked at the flowers which Teena finally finished arranging. And then they ate the special pasta.

"The pasta is delicious, Teena!" Maggie said. "Can you give me the recipe?"

"Sure," said Teena and pulled out a 3x5 card with the recipe already on it. "Even though our plan to get Fox and Dana engaged didn't work out, I'm so glad we can have dinner together on Valentine's Day."

"I know just what you mean," said Maggie and smiled. "I like spending time with you."

Teena said, "You know, we have a lot in common. We both had husbands named Bill, we're both widows, we're both old, we both had our daughters abducted, we both like playing Scrabble..."

Maggie had a look of surprise. "You're right! I never thought about it before." And she took a sip of wine which they had both drunk several glasses of without really noticing. She looked over at Teena and thought about how nice she looked tonight.

"Teena, you look really nice tonight," she said.

And Teena had been thinking the exact same thing about Maggie. "So do you, Maggie, you look really beautiful," she said.

Teena was feeling extra-friendly towards Maggie so she reached over and held her hand and it felt warm and friendly and nice but it also felt all tingly and exciting which sort of surprised her. And Maggie was feeling the exact same way.

"It feels so nice and tingly to hold your hand, Teena," Maggie said and she squeezed Teena's hand.

Just then Frank Sinatra began to sing "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" which was one of Maggie's favourite songs but Teena didn't like it for some reason and she grabbed the remote control and advanced the CD to the next track. Frank was singing "You Do Something To Me" then and they both liked that one and so that was OK. Frank's velvety and romantic voice filled the room and made them feel really good.

The music was so good that they got up and danced a little, really slow, and then without really knowing how it happened they kissed each other and the candles flickered and Frank kept singing and they both felt more exciting tingles from the kiss and it was really nice but after awhile they stopped because even though it was nice, it was sort of like a first date, right? And they both realised that just because they were old and widows, it wasn't too late for them to find more happiness and so the Valentine Plan wasn't wrecked after all, in a way.

And then they played Scrabble.

FINIS


End file.
